Telco glitch lets others listen in to phone calls

Talk about an invasion of privacy. Australia’s second largest telecom vendor Optus is currently struggling to correct a fault in its network that lets customers to eavesdrop on others’ phone calls. Initial reports said the glitch was limited to Optus’ pre-paid mobile service, but smh.com.au readers have described the problem occurring in Optus’ landline network as well.  Reports describing the glitch first appeared on the popular online broadband community, Whirlpool in its Optusnet community. According to Whirlpool, it appears as though it is only possible to hear the person on the receiving end of the eavesdropped call, and the glitch only lets customers listen, not speak, to those they are spying on. Users reported having to physically demonstrate the issue to Optus before they committed to looking further into it, the site said. An Optus spokeswoman said the issue was being investigated and whether or not the glitch was widespread with  Optus’ landline customers was still to be determined. Australia’s #2 telecommunications carrier behind Telstra, Optus provides competitive integrated telecommunications services to more than 5 million customers in the Asia Pacific region. The facilities-based carrier uses a combination of fixed-line, wireless, and satellite networks to provide mobile, local access, national and international long-distance, network services, Internet access, satellite services, and cable TV.